Nine Times Six = A Rainbow of Tonal Shadings…

This top-of-the range stereo 17-inch-wide, two inch deep electric archtop guitar weighs 9.40 lbs. Laminated maple body with four-ply black and white binding and a 7/32 inch band of gold sparkle on the top and bottom of the body and the 'f' holes bound in gold sparkle. Three-piece maple/ebony/maple neck which is also bound in similar gold sparkle on the sides of the fretboard with red side dot markers. Soft curve headstock with horizontal Gretsch "T-roof" logo cut from gold sparkle plastic and inlaid into white Nitron drum material. The neck has a scale length of 25 1/2 inches, a nice fat nut width of just under 1 3/4 inches and a very comfortable medium neck profile. The headstock face is also triple-bound in black and white and has a 1/8 inch band of gold sparkle. Individual Grover Rotomatic tuners with kidney-shaped metal buttons. On the back of the headstock stamped in gold is the serial number "8 3119" and also "Made in USA". Madagascar ebony fretboard with 21 frets plus zero fret and neo-classic inlaid pearl thumbprint (half-moon) position markers up to the twelfth fret and inlaid pearl dot position markers at the fifteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth and twenty-first frets. Four split Filter'Tron pickups (two bass, two treble) with gold plated mounting rings and outputs of 4.17k and 4.28k. Gold lucite pickguard with a falcon engraved from underneath in black. Two volume controls (volume for each pickup on lower treble bout and six three-way selector switches (one pickup selector, four tone selectors - one for each pickup, and a standby switch. In addition there are two "muffler" switches that control two separate 'muting' units. Gretsch "arrow thru G" knobs with ribbed sides. Gretsch 'Tuning Fork' Floating Sound Unit with space control bridge on adjustable ebony base. "V" cutout Gretsch by Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. Burns Gearbox neck-rod adjustment located under a gold sparkle plastic plate secured by three screws to the heel of the neck. Circular white padded cushion with black and gold trim secured to back of guitar by eight fasteners. All metal parts heavily plated in 24-karat gold. This guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition. There is some wear to the gold-plating on the tremolo arm and a tiny amount of playing wear to the original frets. Complete with the original neck-rod adjustment tool in its original yellow envelope. Housed in the original Gretsch five-latch black and gray hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.25).

This is a rare 'transition' example having the Burns Gearbox neck-rod adjustment as per the Mono 7595, but still retaining all of the other features of the Stereo 6137.

"This is the ultimate guitar. No guitar can match its eye-catching beauty or its rainbow of tonal shadings. In lustrous white and gold that staggers the eye. It is truly the guitar with everything. The guitar with the most advanced feature of all: The exclusive new Gretsch Floating Sound Unit. No wonder the White Falcon hollow body electric is the first choice of the world's top professionals… Four split Filter 'Tron pickups (two bass, two treble) can be custom blended in nine different settings. Three way bass and treble tone color switches provide six tone settings for each head combination. 54 tone color variations available at the flip of a switch." (Gretsch catalog, 1968).

The White Falcon was traditionally known as one of the world's most expensive new guitars -
in 1966 it cost a cool $1000!